How to Recognize Modernist Architecture
Modernism is the most widespread style in the catalogue. Here is what to look for when identifying a Modernist building.
Materials
Reinforced concrete, steel frames, and glass are the foundational materials. Facades are typically rendered in white or light-coloured plaster, or left as exposed concrete. Glass appears as horizontal ribbon windows or floor-to-ceiling curtain walls. In Berlin, Mies van der Rohe's Neue Nationalgalerie uses a steel-and-glass pavilion reduced to its structural essence.
Forms & Massing
Flat roofs, cubic volumes, and horizontal emphasis. Buildings are often lifted off the ground on pilotis (columns), creating open ground floors. The silhouette is rectilinear — no domes, pitched roofs, or decorative gables. Le Corbusier's Swiss Pavilion in Paris demonstrates the canonical form: a rectangular slab elevated on sculptural pilotis.
Facade & Surface
Clean, unornamented surfaces. Windows are arranged in horizontal bands (ribbon windows) or as repetitive grids. There is no applied decoration — the rhythm of structure and openings IS the facade. Look for the absence of cornices, mouldings, and symmetrical entrance compositions.
Details
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Pilotis — columns that lift the building off the ground
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Ribbon windows — horizontal window strips that wrap around corners
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Flat roofs, often used as terraces or gardens
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Free-plan interiors — walls independent of structure
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Cantilevered volumes that project beyond their supports
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Minimal entrance treatment — no grand porticos
Context
Modernist buildings typically stand as autonomous objects in space, deliberately contrasting with their surroundings rather than mimicking them. In historic centres, they read as clean geometric insertions. In post-war housing estates, they form repeating modules across the landscape.
